Ancient Coin Reference Guide - Coin Community
Ancient Coin Reference Guide
Part One
Compiled by Ron Rutkowsky
When I first began collecting ancient coins I started to put together a guide which
would help me to identify them and to learn more about their history. Over the
years this has developed into several notebooks filled with what I felt would be
useful information. My plan now is to make all this information available to other
collectors of ancient coinage. I cannot claim any credit for this information; it has
all come from many sources including the internet. Throughout this reference I
use the old era terms of BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domni, year of our Lord)
rather than the more politically correct BCE (Before the Christian era) and CE
(Christian era).
Rome
With most collections, there must be a starting point. Mine was with Roman
coinage. The history of Rome is a subject that we all learned about in school.
From Julius Caesar, Marc Anthony, to Constantine the Great and the fall of the
empire in the late 5th century AD.
Rome first came into being around the year 753 BC, when it was ruled under
noble families that descended from the Etruscans. During those early days, it was
ruled by kings. Later the Republic ruled by a Senate headed by a Consul whose
term of office was one year replaced the kingdom. The Senate lasted until Julius
Caesar took over as a dictator in 47 BC and was murdered on March 15, 44 BC. I
will skip over the years until 27 BC when Octavian (Augustus) ended the Republic
and the Roman Empire was formed making him the first emperor.
Coinage in Rome first appeared before circa 290 BC using lumps of refined bronze
called Aes Rude. From around 290 BC cast bronze Aes Signatum appeared. Now, a
form of Roman coinage first appeared in the form of Aes Grave. Aes Grave were
produced in seven different dominations. There were large bronze pieces
weighting into several hundred grams. Also about this time gold, silver, and
bronze coinage appeared.
Aes Rude
Aes Signatum
Markings on Early Roman Coinage
1. As --- Indicated by the letter I. The obverse had the head of Janus and the
reverse the prow of a vessel.
2. Semis--- Letter S. The obverse has the head of Jupiter laureate.
3. Quincunx --- Letter V, indicated by five large dots on the coin.
4. Trines --- Head of Minerva. Indicated by four dots on the coin.
5. Quadrans --- Head of Hercules. Indicated by three dots on the coin.
6. Sextans --- Head of Mercury. Indicated by two dots on the coin.
7. Uncia --- Head of Roma of a Spearhead. Indicated by one dot on the coin.
Aes Grave
AS
Semis
Quincunx
Trines
Quadrans
Sextans
Uncia
Roman Moneyers
The office of moneyer was an annual appointment. Three men were responsible
for the casting of gold, silver and bronze coinage. Their title was Tresviri auro aere
flando feriundo and their names appeared on the coins. The two links below will
give a list of these moneyers.
es/rrc/roman_republican_coins/roman_republican_moneyers.aspx
Denarius by: moneyer CN. LENTVL
Crawford 387/1
(author¡¯s collection, not actual size)
The Romans loved to use abbreviations in their legends. Here is a list of the most
common forename abbreviations.
A: Aulus
AEL: Aelius
AUR: Aurelius
D: Decimus
C: Caius or Gaius
CN: Cnaeus
FL: Flavius
L: Lucius
M: Marcus
N: Numerius
P: Publis
Q: Quintus
SER: Sergius
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